Archive: Congestion
Bay Bridge Update
Testing of the parapet on the left side of the eastbound span is done. The inspectors found some corrosion of reinforcing steel bolts in the concrete barrier and repairs are underway, says the Maryland Transportation Authority. The left lane on the eastbound span remains closed. This is the schedule for two-way traffic on what is normally the westbound span: -- Monday through Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. -- Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. -- Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. -- As needed, Monday through Saturday, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., during full closures of the eastbound span. The idea is to give commuters three westbound lanes during the morning rush and accommodate people returning from the Eastern Shore on the weekend while round-the-clock repairs continue on the eastbound span. But this situation is far from ideal. Many of the accidents on...
By | September 3, 2008; 11:06 AM ET | Comments (1)
VDOT Working on Beltway Ramp
To ease congestion, the Virginia Department of Transportation is adding another lane to the ramp from Route 7 in Falls Church onto the inner loop of the Capital Beltway. This involves reconfiguring the westbound lanes of Route 7 at the intersection with Magarity Road in Falls Church. The work is scheduled to be done on Nov. 20. In the meantime, watch for occasional lane closings through the area during off-peak hours.The $429,992 project also involves construction of a sidewalk, curb, gutter and pedestrian fence for safety. The Metrobus stop for routes 28A, B and T at the intersection is temporarily unavailable. The nearest stop is to the east, across from Marshall High School....
By | September 3, 2008; 09:43 AM ET | Comments (0)
Waiting for 'September Shock'
For many commuters, the move from summer to fall isn't as swift or surprising as it used to be. School starts, which were a big factor in traffic and transit congestion, come more gradually than they used to for the Washington region. Northern Virginia schools are starting up this week, but many students in Maryland and the District have been back at their desks since late August. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill remains quiet. We're still in road construction season. Since few people have the luxury of taking summer-long vacations, the current set of road projects isn't a surprise to commuters who drive. In transit, Metrorail continued to set ridership records through the summer. I see nothing much has changed on MARC: Train 506 was delayed because of problems problems, and there's a slowdown on the Brunswick Line this week, because CSX is working on the tracks. Train 894 left Frederick 40...
By | September 2, 2008; 07:59 AM ET | Comments (9)
Easier Drive at Beltway Ramp
The Upper Marlboro commuter who wrote to me for Sunday's column about congestion on the ramp from the Capital Beltway to southbound Branch Avenue in Prince George's had this to say about the Maryland State Highway Administration's fixes. Hello Dr. Gridlock: On Monday, I traveled through the Beltway/Branch Avenue interchange at around 5:30 p.m. and the weekend's modifications to the off ramp seem to have did the trick. Everything was much improved. There were no delays on either loop of the Beltway and Branch Avenue flowed well even with the new lane drop. Sidney V. Elam Jr. The state extended the ramp lanes carrying inner and outer loop traffic so drivers would not have to do a difficult merge on the ramp. For you others who use the ramp, are you also finding the traffic flow better this week?...
By | August 12, 2008; 12:57 PM ET | Comments (2)
Maryland Plans to Fix New Beltway Ramp
The Maryland State Highway Administration has announced a plan to ease congestion on its new ramp from the Capital Beltway to southbound Branch Avenue (Route 5). The ramp, centerpiece of a $52 million reconstruction of that busy interchange in Prince George's County, has troubled drivers since it opened last Friday. The ramp lanes will no longer merge here, before Branch Avenue. (Thomson) The fix: By Monday morning, both the inner and outer loop ramps will have their own lanes extending onto southbound Branch Avenue. At the point where drivers merge onto Branch Avenue, it will consist of two through lanes and two ramp lanes. All four lanes will continue beyond the end of the ramp for about a half mile, where the outside lane will drop off and merge left near Linda Lane. For that new setup to work, SHA will reduce southbound Branch Avenue from three through lanes to...
By | August 8, 2008; 01:56 PM ET | Comments (3)
Branch Avenue Blues
Dear Dr. Gridlock: On Aug. 1, the Maryland State Highway Administration opened a new flyover ramp from the inner loop of the Capital Beltway to southbound Branch Avenue (Route 5). The new ramp was supposed to ease congestion and eliminate the difficult merge at the Branch Avenue/Beltway interchange. Signs ahead say, "Form Single Lane" as ramp traffic merges. (Thomson) However, conditions have been made worse. To give you an overview of the problem: Originally the inner loop and outer loop ramps onto southbound Branch Avenue had separate merge points. There used to be a line which formed at the off ramp for Branch Avenue and spilled onto the shoulder of the inner loop. The queue for this ramp would be about 1/4 mile long. There would be no delay on the outer loop. Now with the new traffic pattern, both loops have the same merge point onto southbound Branch Avenue....
By | August 8, 2008; 10:22 AM ET | Comments (14)
Virginia Extending Shoulder Use on I-66
Virginia's traffic is worsening, and if the state can't build its way out of congestion, it can get more use out of the road it already has: The Virginia Department of Transportation this month will extend the hours during which drivers can spread out and use the I-66 shoulder lanes between the Capital Beltway and Route 50. The plan will add an hour of shoulder use in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, starting Aug. 25. Right now, morning use eastbound ends at 10 a.m. and afternoon use westbound starts at 3 p.m. These will be the new times: 5:30 to 11 a.m. eastbound; 2 to 8 p.m. westbound. VDOT also plans to open the shoulder during traffic incidents or when lanes are closed for road work. HOV-2 hours will stay the same: Eastbound, 5:30 to 9:30 a.m.; westbound, 3 to 7 p.m. This section of I-66 outside...
By | August 8, 2008; 06:39 AM ET | Comments (37)
Orange Line Travelogue
As Dr. Gridlock, I don't commute. Soon as I put the key in the ignition or pay the fare, I'm at work. Part of my job, as the Dear Abbey of Traffic, is to share your pain out there. Orange Line, Wednesday, 6:52 a.m.: Got on board a downtown-bound train at West Falls Church. Things were going well at that point. I'd parked on the second level in the garage, taking one of about 2,000 all-day spaces at the station. ($4.50 per day, payable by SmarTrip card only.) Just two stops from the start of the line, the train car already was filling with standees. And we could hear a platform announcement about delays ahead, because of a switch problem at Foggy Bottom. This wouldn't prove to be a major delay, but it did add 10 minutes to the scheduled 28 minute trip to Federal Center SW. During the trip,...
By | August 7, 2008; 07:42 AM ET | Comments (25)
Beltway Speed Controls Tonight
Late-night drivers on the Capital Beltway in Virginia are likely to see the new Variable Speed Limit system in action around midnight as utility crews replace power lines across the highway. Both the inner and outer loops will be stopped for about 15 minutes between the Telegraph Road interchange and the Eisenhower Connector so the crews can work safely. (Project map) When the speed-control system, operated by the Wilson Bridge project, detects that traffic is slowing and stopping, the speed limits approaching the work zone will be lowered. Watch the new electronic speed limit signs. The intention is to reduce the likelihood that drivers will slam on the brakes when they see the tail lights ahead. When the power-line work is done, all lanes will reopen. Once the traffic backup has cleared, the speed limits will revert to normal. The speed control system is in place along the seven miles...
By | July 30, 2008; 04:56 PM ET | Comments (2)
Getting Around During Papal Visit
Here is some advice about traffic hot spots during the pope's visit to Washington, which begins during this afternoon's rush and ends Friday morning. -- Worst Bet: Expecting events to begin and end at the scheduled times. -- Best Bet: Getting to your seat for the 10 a.m. papal mass at Nationals Park by 8:30 a.m. -- The worst congestion is likely to occur tomorrow and Thursday. -- Avoid Massachusetts Avenue NW around Observatory Circle all week. That's the neighborhood where the pope will be staying. Commuters can try Wisconsin Avenue, Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street NW as alternatives or take Metro's Red Line. Crosstown traffic could use Garfield Street, Cleveland Avenue and Calvert Street. -- The streets around North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue NE are likely to be congested tomorrow and Thursday as the pope attends events in Brookland. -- Popemobile Procession: Noon tomorrow from the White House,...
By | April 15, 2008; 08:16 AM ET | Comments (0)
Traffic Weekend in Washington
Three events are likely to make this a difficult weekend for travel in Washington: The National Marathon on Saturday, the opening of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday and two baseball games at the new Nationals Stadium. National Marathon Many people enjoyed this event last spring, but D.C. residents and visitors were howling about the extensive street closures that trapped them in their cars or in their neighborhoods. The marathon's Web site has a very good guide to the Saturday plan, along with a map of the marathon and half marathon routes and a list of the temporary street closings. You'll find them all on this page. Cherry Blossom Festival Saturday is opening day for the festival, which will continue for two weeks. This should be the peak weekend for viewing the blossoms around the Tidal Basin. The National Park Service closed the Tidal Basin parking lot at 1501...
By | March 28, 2008; 06:41 AM ET | Comments (9)
Overturned Truck Snarls Traffic on Outer Loop
An afternoon accident on the Capital Beltway's outer loop between Connecticut and Georgia avenues closed the two left lanes, causing disruptions, according to MapTuit traffic reports. The two left lanes are now reopened....
By washingtonpost.com editors | March 24, 2008; 03:56 PM ET | Comments (3)
VDOT Commissioner Faults Ice Storm Response
David Ekern, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation, summed up the department's response to the Feb. 12 ice storm this way: "When you look at the critical 45 minutes, we got overwhelmed." He was talking about the time between 3 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. when the Springfield Interchange's roadways and bridges began to freeze -- and so did VDOT. -- The road treatment equipment wasn't where it needed to be when weather conditions began to deteriorate rapidly. -- VDOT's Traffic Management Center in Northern Virginia failed to activate the message boards to warn drivers that the interchange had become impassable. -- The 511 phone information system was not engaged. VDOT's Web site was not used to alert people who had not yet left home or work. -- The Traffic Management Center did not contact the emergency operations center in Richmond or other regional traffic management centers to coordinate public...
By | March 20, 2008; 02:29 PM ET | Comments (4)
VDOT Releases Report on Ice Storm Response
These are some of the findings from the Virginia Department of Transportation review released this afternoon regarding its inadequate response to the ice storm that choked the Springfield Interchange for more than seven hours on the afternoon and evening of Feb. 12. I'll follow up on this with you later this afternoon. Forecast Off The Transportation Emergency Operations Center in Richmond (TEOC) and the NOVA district maintenance management and staff had several sources of weather data available prior to and during the event. The main source of forecast data was the National Weather Service (NWS). VDOT also has a contract with a private meteorological company to give more discrete weather forecasts than those provided by the NWS. This service did not forecast the ice storm for the Northern Virginia region. Lack of Road Data Supplemental data on pavement temperatures were available from Vaisala Corporation, a private service employed by VDOT...
By | March 20, 2008; 01:17 PM ET | Comments (0)
Triple Trouble For DC Traffic?
Let's see how big this city really is: Three events are scheduled for Saturday, March 29, and they all contain the word "National." While they're still a week and a half away, you'll probably see why there's some value in beginning to plan. A traffic magnet in bloom. (Thomson) Here are the elements of the Traffic Trifecta. The National Marathon and Half Marathon. The starting time is 7 a.m. and the finish time is 1:30 p.m. Last year, many people enjoyed having this run in the nation's capital, but it left thousands trapped in traffic. It takes place on a Saturday, which is not a light day for local travel, and it crosses through six of the city's eight wards in two big loops. The course begins and ends at RFK Stadium. Look for signs marking the race route. That's where you'll experience temporary street closures that not only will...
By | March 19, 2008; 06:43 AM ET | Comments (16)
Will Stadium Overwhelm Transit?
There's a major transportation challenge coming this spring in the District: Getting people to and from, or around, the new baseball stadium. This letter from a Navy Yard commuter explores one important aspect. Dear Dr. Gridlock: I wish to address the problem of baseball stadium traffic, and more pointly the problem of getting spectators to and from the Nationals games. Currently it is expected that all of the spectators would get to and from the games by taking the train and getting off at Navy Yard Station. This is a little rinky-dink station with a little rinky-dink platform that handles only one line. One solution is to utilize the buses to take the pressure off Navy Yard, and it has been suggested that everybody be encouraged to take the N22. The problem with this is that to find the stop you have to exit the other side of Navy Yard...
By | February 27, 2008; 08:32 AM ET | Comments (47)
What Would You Pay? And How?
How much would you pay to stay out of traffic congestion? In today's Post, Eric Weiss writes about the plans to build the high occupancy or toll (HOT) lanes in Virginia along the west side of the Capital Beltway and along I-95/395. Since the goal is to keep the extra lanes free of congestion and maintain highway speeds, there's no limit on what the tolls can be. Estimates are that they will be a dollar a mile during rush periods, but that's not a cutoff. You get to put the old equation "Time is Money" into practice. Every day. Sluggers hate the HOT lanes because they believe this will end their informal and highly successful system of carpooling. That's a separate question. For the majority of people who drive alone, how much time would you save on your trip if you could travel the interstate part at a consistent speed...
By | February 25, 2008; 08:02 AM ET | Comments (25)
Traffic As Economic Indicator?
Hi Dr. Gridlock: I have noticed a welcome but eerie phenomenon on my daily commute from Clifton to the Vienna Metro station. This started around the MLK holiday. First, the drive at 7:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. between my house and Vienna takes half the time (about 20 minutes vs. about 40 minutes) and there are so many empty parking spaces! Seen worse on 66, nearing Beltway. (Robert Thomson) Now the availability of parking spaces could be explained by the recent increase in cost, but the flowing traffic stumps me. At first, I figured a lot of people were on vacation the week of the MLK holiday but it did not stop there. I hope this is not due to the slowdown of the economy, because that would be a very scary indicator. Patricia P. Morris Indeed it would. And in years past, I have heard traffic reporters say that...
By | February 7, 2008; 05:16 AM ET | Comments (28)
Park Police Hope to Ease Delays
The U.S. Park Police have a new technique they hope will cut down on the traffic congestion that follows a serious accident on the parkways in the Washington region. It's a software program that uses a calibrated digital camera and numbered markers to create three-dimensional diagrams of accident scenes. The photogrammetry technique gives police the same scene evidence they get from older methods of accident reconstruction, but it lets them get out of there quicker and reopen closed lanes. The park police used the technique to reconstruct a Jan. 8 pedestrian accident on the Clara Barton Parkway, said Sgt. Robert Lachance, a police spokesman. The technique will work in many scenarios, but not all, he said. It's most useful when the accident scene is fairly compact. Lachance said it's difficult to give an average for home much time can be saved, since no two accidents or investigations are alike. He...
By | January 23, 2008; 05:41 AM ET | Comments (0)
Another Race This Weekend
This Sunday is the date for the annual Army 10-Miler. Metrorail is going to open early and provide extra service on the Blue Line, something the race sponsors pay for, as does the sponsor of any activity that requests extra service. The race starts at 8 a.m. Sponsors want the runners at the start line no later than 7:45 a.m. The rail system will open at 6 a.m., an hour earlier than normal. Meanwhile, Metrobus operations at the Pentagon Transit Center will be relocated to Pentagon City until Arlington County reopens the roadways affected by the race. Metro figures the buses will be back at the Pentagon at about 1 p.m. (The Pentagon Metrorail station remains open through all this.) Here's a link to a map of the route through Arlington and the mall area in the District. The map may take a minute to load. The race, which begins...
By | October 3, 2007; 08:26 AM ET | Comments (58)
Saturday Not Kind to Travelers
Many people were livid about the difficulties of getting around on Saturday, with events in the District that blocked roads and with troubles on Metrorail. As Lena Sun reported in Sunday's Post, most of the road closures were prompted by the Nation's Triathlon. Motorists could not enter Rock Creek Parkway and other roadways, including the Whitehurst Freeway and Independence and Constitution avenues. Here's how one driver described it. Dear Dr. Gridlock: I just spent an extra 30 minutes "driving" from Tysons to my Southwest Washington home. My slow drive was shared by hundreds of other drivers at the river crossings into the District. I knew that the National Triathlon was gumming things up, and knew in advance that there was only one route into and out of Southwest -- I-395 to Maine Avenue or South Capitol Street. Nonetheless, the traffic jams started on the inbound George Washington Parkway before the...
By | October 2, 2007; 08:08 AM ET | Comments (56)
Heavy Traffic in Rosslyn and Georgetown
In this interconnected region, a problem at one intersection can create a traffic jam that sprawls across the states and the District. That was the case early this summer when the work staging area on the Legion Bridge slowed traffic on the George Washington Parkway, Chain Bridge Road, the Beltway, the Dulles Toll Road and I-66. So I was wondering if another work zone was at the heart of new traffic problems on the parkway, on the streets in Rosslyn, on the Key Bridge and along Canal Road in Georgetown. Morning traffic heads onto Key Bridge. (Robert Thomson) That's what I'm getting the most complaints about now from drivers, and they're right. I walked around Rosslyn and Georgetown on Thursday and Friday mornings, writing about that in my Sunday column. Traffic was really bad from late in the rush hour through what should have been the start of the post-rush...
By | September 24, 2007; 06:06 AM ET | Comments (30)
Future Not All Bleak
A few hours after the Texas Transportation Institute released its gloomy list pegging us at number 2 for most delayed travel, a group from government, the private sector and academia assembled at the 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church to offer a generally positive assessment of the future. The session, a discussion of "Planes, Trains and HOT Lanes" sponsored by the Reed Smith law firm, was one of the many transportation forums that are held in Northern Virginia, where business leaders are acutely aware of the threat that congestion poses for the local economy. Pierce Homer, the Virginia transportation secretary who knows this region so well, painted a picture of progress -- some of it realized through projects like the Springfield interchange reconstruction, but much of it yet to come. A region now growing by two Manassases a year, he said, has long had trouble getting the state government in Richmond...
By | September 19, 2007; 07:55 AM ET | Comments (17)
How Bad Is Bad?
Most traffic reporters, politicians and transportation issue advocates wait for this day, when the Texas Transportation Institute releases it's assessment of the travel problems in urban areas across the nation. They put it in a simple package for us: Just find your metropolitan area on the list and see whether you've gone from bad to badder. According to the study released today, which is based on traffic data from 2005, we've moved into a tie with San Francisco-Oakland as the region with the second worst traffic delays in the United States. Only Los Angeles beats us in a contest we would prefer not to win. But now that you know that, what do you know? "The good news is that there are multiple strategies involving traffic operations and public transit available right now that if applied together, can lessen this problem," said the study's co-author, Tim Lomax, in a statement...
By | September 18, 2007; 11:20 AM ET | Comments (0)
GW Northbound Lanes Re-Opened
All northbound lanes on the George Washington Memorial Parkway are now opened. An earlier accident involving an overturned vehicle occurred in the right lane at about 8:45 a.m., according to Maptuit reports....
By washingtonpost.com editors | August 8, 2007; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Vehicle Fire Blocks Route 32 in Columbia
According to Maptuit traffic reports, westbound lanes of Route 32 at or near the intersection with U.S. 29 (Columbia Pike) are blocked by a vehicle fire. Use caution and seek alternate routes....
By Bob Greiner | July 12, 2007; 05:40 PM ET | Comments (0)
All Lanes Reopened on GW Parkway
All lanes are now open on the George Washington Memorial Parkway following an earlier incident involving an overturned vehicle, according to traffic alerts provided by Arlington County....
By washingtonpost.com editors | June 8, 2007; 11:28 AM ET | Comments (0)
Constitution Ave. Closed Near Capitol
D.C. police have shut down Constitution Ave. in both directions between 4th St. NE and Delaware Ave. due to a suspicious package found near the Hart Senate Office Building, according to MapTuit and broadcast reports. The Metropolitan Police Department is trying to determine whether a package found at a private residence is an explosive device, according to TV reports....
By Liz Heron | June 6, 2007; 09:52 AM ET | Comments (3)
Accident Reconstruction Closes Beltway Lanes
Delays are expected on the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County as investigators reconstruct a series of collisions Wednesday night that resulted in the deaths of two people and injuries to 15 others. According to Maptuit, two right lanes of the inner loop are closed near Ritchie Marlboro Road in Forestville. Traffic begins to slow at Route 214. The investigation also blocks the ramp from Ritchie Marlboro Road to the inner loop. Two left lanes of the inner loop will be closed later today when investigators are finished on the right side of the highway. UPDATE: Maptuit reports that the investigation was complete and lanes were reopening at 11:22 a.m....
By Kyle Balluck | May 31, 2007; 10:54 AM ET | Comments (18)
Congestion Continues at Legion Bridge
This morning, after listening to a transportation expert in Tysons describe a wonderful future in which commutes would be safer and smoother thanks to smart use of technology, I plowed back into an old-fashioned traffic jam on the Capital Beltway. Brake lights on at parkway/Beltway merge south of Legion Bridge. (Robert Thomson) It was that backup stemming from the painting project at the American Legion Bridge. There have been some improvements, as I said in my Sunday Dr. Gridlock column. But the Beltway traffic was backed up across four lanes from Tysons up to the bridge. And I hate to think what the drivers were experiencing on the northbound George Washington Parkway who must deal with a merge lane into the Beltway that was shortened up to create a staging area for the project's workers. Both the Maryland State Highway Administration, which is in charge of the painting project, and...
By | May 10, 2007; 10:16 AM ET | Comments (28)
Shortened Merge Jams GW Parkway
The worst traffic backup I've seen lately occurs on the northbound George Washington Parkway on the approach to the Beltway's inner loop. That's where the merge lane recently shrank to create a staging area for the Legion Bridge painting project. My little traffic patrol started Tuesday morning after I got a letter from an Arlington commuter who was startled and confused by how bad the parkway traffic had become on her morning trip toward the Beltway and Maryland. The Maryland State Highway Administration is painting the bridge, and the staging area has been created on the southeast side. The ramp from the parkway has been shortened and the inner loop's shoulder across the bridge is blocked off. I wanted to see for myself what effect that was having, but any trip of more than a couple of miles around here passes through several issue zones, and so the drive over...
By | May 2, 2007; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (18)
Sinkhole Forces Inner Loop Lane Closures
Emergency repairs on the inner loop of the Capital Beltway are expected to extend into the afternoon rush hour, according to officials of the Woodrow Wilson bridge project. A two-foot-square sinkhole, located near the Route 1 interchange, forced the closure of two lanes. Crews shut down the far left lane on the Maryland side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The second left lane is also closed near the Virginia shoreline. The inner loop lane closures extend past the Route 1 interchange....
By Kyle Balluck | April 24, 2007; 01:15 PM ET | Comments (0)
Beltway Accident Causes Delays Near Landover
A serious accident slows traffic on the Capitol Beltway in Prince George's County. Maptuit reports that a car ran into a tractor trailer that was parked on the shoulder of the inner loop near Arena Drive. Authorities are reconstructing the accident. All activity has been moved to the right shoulder. Inner loop delays begin at the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Traffic on the outer loop begins to slow at Allentown Road....
By Kyle Balluck | April 20, 2007; 08:06 AM ET | Comments (0)
Accident Blocks Southbound I-95 Lanes in Va.
All southbound lanes of Interstate 95 are closed due to an accident involving a jackknifed tractor-trailer near the Route 123 exit in Woodbridge. According to Maptuit, delays begin at Newington. Southbound traffic is being forced to exit onto Route 1. All northbound express and main lanes are open. UPDATE: All southbound lanes were reported reopened at 9:24 a.m....
By Kyle Balluck | March 27, 2007; 08:34 AM ET | Comments (0)
Assessing Tuesday's Early Rush Hour
I've gotten a few letters in the past 48 hours complaining about the impact the federal shutdown had on travelers on Tuesday afternoon. My own experience was on the roads: Driving on the inner loop of the Beltway -- well not driving, exactly, more like listening to the radio with the heater on -- as lines of entering cars halted traffic shortly after 2 p.m. The mailbag contained this typical note from a Metro rider. Dear Dr. Gridlock: On Tuesday when the federal government decided to close at 2 p.m. because of the winter storm, did they notify Metro of the decision? Was there anything Metro could've done to get more or longer trains or both into the system to handle the sudden crush of passengers? After 9/11 and the rush to evacuate the city center, one would think that there would be improved coordination between federal officials and local...
By | February 16, 2007; 08:23 AM ET | Comments (0)
Trouble Ahead For Tysons Travelers
If you travel through Tysons regularly, you are in for interesting times. While the citizens who make up the Tysons Land Use Task Force were talking last night about how to involve the public in creating a small city of distinctive, liveable, walkable neighborhoods, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors was approving a developer's plan to surround the Tysons Corner Center mall with eight residential and commercial towers up to 30 stories high. The citizens, who are taking their job seriously no matter what the board is doing, passed a resolution in support of putting the new Metrorail line underground through Tysons. One of their concerns about an elevated track is that it will look like a wall to pedestrians thinking about crossing Route 123. Once the towers go up, the tracks may look no more intimidating than a Lionel train set running around a Christmas tree. Those who drive...
By | January 23, 2007; 07:26 AM ET | Comments (36)
Right Lanes Open at I-66, Inner Loop Interchange
The Inner Loop's left lane remains blocked following an accident involving an overturned tractor trailer on the Capital Beltway at the Interstate 66 interchange in Virginia. Drivers on I-66 must still use the left exit to access the Capital Beltway, according to MapTuit traffic reports. Inner Loop delays begin in Springfield....
By washingtonpost.com editors | January 2, 2007; 12:39 PM ET | Comments (3)
Rock Creek Parkway Reopens Following Fatal Accident
Rock Creek Parkway was closed this morning between Calvert Street and Massachusetts Avenue due to an accident investigation. Shortly after midnight, a car traveling north on Rock Creek Parkway left the road and hit a tree near Massachusetts Avenue. Two individuals were killed in the accident, according to reports from the Associated Press. Traffic on inbound Beach Drive coming out of the zoo tunnel can now continue on to Rock Creek Parkway, according to Maptuit reports....
By washingtonpost.com editors | December 8, 2006; 06:47 AM ET | Comments (44)
We Can Solve This, But ...
We can ease traffic congestion and make travel safer. Some will say that statement is a no-brainer, while others will say, Not so fast, doc, we can't build our way out of congestion. There's a dispair over congestion that amounts to acceptance, a sense that what is bad now can only get worse. But I'm looking forward to the new ramp that will open next week at the Springfield interchange. When I'm driving south from the Beltway onto I-95, I won't have to slide across several lanes of traffic to get where I need to be. The recent widening of I-66 near Manassas and the opening of the ramps at Route 28's Sterling interchange will make things better. The new interchanges on Route 29 in Maryland have made things better. On Tuesday afternoon, a group of Virginians gathered at the Capital One building in McLean because they also believe that...
By | November 29, 2006; 07:59 AM ET | Comments (0)
Holiday Tips for Drivers
We're approaching the season when my Internet skills get sharpened: holiday shopping season. I'll do almost anything to avoid getting malled at Tysons or along Rockville Pike. I lock in certain days off in December at the start of each year, not so we can travel to relatives, but so I can perform those few shopping tasks I can't get done online. Any travel at all along the main shopping routes is vexing, whether I'm actually doing holiday shopping or just trying to get from one place to another. There are bottlenecks to avoid, lanes to steer clear of and times of day to just stay off the roads. If I do have to enter a mall parking lot or garage, I'll park in the remotest regions, to avoid those drivers who trail you around, like stalkers, as you head back to your car. No one in a mall parking...
By | November 13, 2006; 10:04 AM ET | Comments (19)
New Kicks on I-66
Travelers have been using that wider new section of I-66 around Manassas for only a few hours now, and already I've heard from a commuter complaining about a new chokepoint forming around exit 43, which is the Route 29 exit. He says westbound drivers heading home tonight will have to squeeze down from the wider, four-lane section to two lanes just a short way before they exit for Route 29. This morning, he said, the eastbound drivers heading from Route 29 onto I-66 found the experience as bad as ever for the first three-tenths of a mile on the interstate before it opens up, thanks to the widening. The next phase of the widening, to Gainesville, is scheduled to begin in the spring, as Eric Weiss reported in today's Post. These days, most of our highway projects are done in phases. The improvements to Route 29 in the Maryland suburbs...
By | November 8, 2006; 11:15 AM ET | Comments (0)
Fixing What We've Got
Robert Flanagan, Maryland's transportation secretary, and State Highway Administrator Neil Pedersen presented their transportation improvement plan in Montgomery County last night. The intercounty connector stands out as one of the few brand new roadways planned for the Washington region. In the Maryland suburbs, roads will be widened and straightened and made more efficient. That's expensive enough. Same pattern holds in Virginia. The widening of I-66 and the interchange construction on Route 28 are examples of Northern Virginia's big roadway projects. Most of the brand new things in Maryland will be transit lines -- either bus rapid transit or light rail, according to the state's plan. There's the Red Line in Baltimore. And in the Washington suburbs, there's the Bicounty Transitway, or Purple Line, and the Corridor Cities Transitway. Big problem for us will be that the three projects are scheduled to enter their construction phases about the same time in...
By | November 3, 2006; 08:04 AM ET | Comments (0)
Traffic, Traffic Everywhere
Getting away from the newsroom for a few days, I drove up through New England to Bar Harbor, Maine. This is fall leaf season along the coast and the weather is beautiful. But, oh, the traffic! After reading so many letters to the column and comments on the blog that bemoan the everyday conditions in the Washington region, it has been interesting to see all of that replicated on highways and secondary roads up the East Coast. We skirted New York City by taking the Garden State Parkway to the northbound New York Thruway and then cutting east across the Newburgh bridge on I-84. That took us through Hartford, Conn., and up to the Mass Pike. E-ZPass cut at least a half hour off our trip, but that doesn't mean we avoided jam-ups. Probably the worst were around Danbury, Conn., and Hartford. Just volume. Too many drivers for not enough...
By | October 10, 2006; 08:41 AM ET | Comments (15)
Progress on Several Roadways
Several road improvement projects are being completed this month, one in the area of the Wilson Bridge project and the other in the District: -- The Wilson Bridge Project reports that South Washington Street will permanently return to four traffic lanes from South Street through the Washington Street Beltway overpass as early as Monday. This should improve travel for commuters who have seen the construction work in the area for three years. South Washington Street has been reduced from four to three travel lanes to accommodate construction of a new Beltway overpass. Now that work on the overpass is in its final phase, the long term lane restrictions are no longer necessary, project officials say. The new deck for the overpass should be done by mid-2007. -- The District Department of Transportation announced the completion of the Southern Avenue Bridge at Naylor Road , running over Suitland Parkway. The $8.9...
By | September 28, 2006; 08:43 AM ET | Comments (0)
Officials Promise Change at Lincoln Memorial
The District Department of Transportation and the National Park Service told me Thursday that they were working on improving the traffic flow through the Lincoln Memorial circle. The morning traffic backups across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia have generated many complaints from motorists. On Monday: Two new sets of lights back up traffic at circle. (Robert Thomson) Both agencies said they understand the concerns expressed by commuters over the new traffic lights. DDOT spokesman Erik Linden said the lights were modified today with the intent of getting more cars through the circle while still protecting pedestrians. Both he and Bill Line, spokesman for the National Park Service, said their agencies would continue to monitor the traffic situation and would make further adjustments if warranted. Line said the park service would work with the park police to enforce the time limits on tour buses that discharge and pickup passengers in the...
By | September 21, 2006; 05:44 PM ET | Comments (15)
Plan Proposed for Northern Virginia Relief
Just got back from a press conference at the Dunn Loring Metro station with some of the elected officials in Northern Virginia who have presented a plan to improve the road-transit-pedestrian-bike network in Northern Virginia. The plan, created by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, projects the region's needs to 2030 and aims to ease the intense congestion that the generation born in this decade will encounter as it enters the working life. The plan identifies a total of $16 billion in what it considers unmet transportation needs, but the leaders supporting it are not proposing a specific method of raising the money. Their goal is to win the backing of the Virginia General Assembly, the stumbling block for any plan for the future of Northern Virginia's transportation network. The NVTA chairman, David Snyder, and Gerry Connolly, who is a member of the authority, each pointed to a set of maps...
By | September 15, 2006; 11:31 AM ET | Comments (5)
Advice on Beltway Bottlenecks
I got a letter about Beltway traffic this morning that I thought I'd share with the group, because I love the idea the writer speaks of: A map that would show where the typical tie-ups occur. What would you want to color in on such a map? In the morning, there's the outer loop from about Greenbelt around to Georgia Avenue. That's a splotch I'd color in. Also, the outer loop in the morning around Tysons. In the afternoon, there's the inner loop in Maryland from the Legion Bridge through the I-270 split and the outer loop from the Telegraph Road area to the Wilson Bridge. What am I forgetting? To answer her specific question about the trip to the Eastern Shore, I'll warn her that backups can occur anywhere for a variety of reasons, but that she's likely to encounter delays on either loop of the Beltway at some...
By | September 12, 2006; 01:42 PM ET | Comments (0)
Don't Be a Victim of Bad Planning
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on transportation issues during a Live Online discussion at 1 p.m. today. We might spend some time talking about transportation politics. In Maryland and the District, tomorrow is primary day, the decisive voting in many local contests because of the overwhelmingly Democratic registration in some areas. During the past month, I've gotten many questions and comments regarding the Purple Line in Montgomery and Prince George's counties and about pedestrian and traffic safety everywhere. Virginians won't vote until the general election in November, but we did have a big political decision last week on transportation: Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) decided he could not back a proposed rail tunnel through Tysons Corner because the federal government probably woudn't agree to pay part of the project's cost if the tunnel was chosen. So instead, the new Tysons Metrorail line will be elevated. That was hardly...
By | September 11, 2006; 08:51 AM ET | Comments (0)
If It's Like This Now ...
These next couple of weeks are supposed to be as good as it gets for Washington travelers. As many people are out of town now as there are at any point of the year. At least, that's the theory. It's certainly possible that the rise in gas prices and last week's air terror threat could dampen enthusiasm for long distance travel. As I make my rounds and try to develop a better understanding of the traffic and transit issues we confront, I'm imagining what it will be like in September, with everyone back. I've done some trips by car, rail and bus at various times of day in Virginia, Maryland and the District -- and I don't like what I see. The best and worst experiences have been aboard buses. For yesterday's newspaper column, I wrote about riding the Circulator bus, an innovative system sponsored by a public-private partnership that...
By | August 14, 2006; 05:00 AM ET | Comments (15)
